New Britain Man Gets 40 Years For Killing Wife

Luis Velez at his arraignment in April 2014. (Kevin Bartram / New Britain Herald)

NEW BRITAIN — A 43-year-old city man was sentenced to 40 years in prison Monday for killing his wife in April 2014.

Luis Velez pleaded guilty to murder earlier this year as part of an agreement with prosecutors. The agreement called for a 40-year sentence.

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Velez admitted to New Britain detectives that he choked his wife with his hands, "squeezed the life out of her," then tightened a belt from a terry cloth robe around her neck to make sure she was dead, Prosecutor Christian Watson told New Britain Superior Court Judge Arthur Hadden.

Because Velez had also been convicted in a killing in Puerto Rico, Watson tried to bring a capital felony charge against Velez, which would have required a life sentence in prison without the possibility of release. He was not able to do so because the law in Puerto Rico did not match the law in Connecticut.

The 40-year sentence Hadden imposed Monday, however, is effectively a life sentence, the judge said.

Velez "treated his wife like an animal" and "has zero remorse," Watson said. "Mr. Velez deserves to spend the rest of his natural life behind bars."

Victim Advocate Wesley Chrostowski read a letter describing the victim, Johana Gallego, as a nice person, a hard worker and a good mother. Chrostowski told the judge that Gallego's family members are people of faith and that he was struck by Gallego's father's willingness to forgive Velez the day after the murder.

The murder occurred in the Newfield Avenue home the couple shared.

Gallego worked as a nursing assistant at the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain and had two teenage children, a boy and a girl. She was 33 when she was killed. Gallego and Velez were married less than a year.

Velez said nothing when given the opportunity to speak. His public defender, Damian Tucker, said Velez expressed remorse for what he did immediately after the crime.